


Jealous

by flippantninny



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 21:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2165973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippantninny/pseuds/flippantninny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the one word prompt 'Jealous'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jealous

"Hold it up slightly higher," Rick said, "aim it carefully, the cans aren’t going anywhere, so take your time."

Beth stared at the cans, her brow furrowing as she concentrated. The loud noise of a gunshot rang through the camp. Beth stared in disappointment at the untouched cans.

"Don’t worry about it," Rick said, "try again."

Beth lifted the gun, staring at the cans on the other side of the clearing.

"Here," Rick said, reaching his arms around her to adjust her stance and her aim. There was another gunshot. This time a can fell over.

Beth yelled something unintelligible, then spun round and pulled Rick into a hug.

Daryl had been watching from the camp for half an hour, slowly fantasizing more and more about hurting Rick. He wasn’t sure why, he cared about Rick, he was more of a brother than Merle had ever been. But watching him teach Beth to shoot was making him feel weird things in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t understand it, and he definitely didn’t like it. And then Rick’s hands had found their way on to Beth’s and her back was against his chest, and Daryl knew he was being stupid, that this was just about helping Beth survive in the world they lived in, but something about it made him angry.

And now they were hugging, and it was silly, because Beth had hugged everyone in the camp multiple times, but it made Daryl uncomfortable.

"Come on, we should stop for today, maybe try again tomorrow," Rick said.

Daryl focused back on what he was doing, setting up noise traps for walkers, when suddenly arms were wrapping around him and a head was resting on his back.

"I got a can, did you see?" Beth asked into his back.

Daryl grunted.

Beth pulled away and waited for Daryl to turn around. “Aren’t you happy for me?” she asked.

He grunted again. Beth had gotten used to this type of conversation, Daryl’s grunts, but she had been excited that she had actually hit a can, albeit with a lot of help from Rick, and was hoping for a verbal response from Daryl.

"You know you could actually use your words," she said, "as much as your grunts are fun to listen to, sometimes an actual conversation would be nice."

"Thought you liked using the crossbow," he said, "didn’t think you wanted to learn to use a gun."

She sighed. “I love learning to use the crossbow with you Daryl, problem is I can’t reload it, it’s heavy, and it’s yours, not exactly a good combination if a walker attacks.”

Daryl’s first thought was that Beth didn’t need to learn to use any weapon, he would always be there to protect her. But then he remembered the time he wasn’t. Maybe she did need to learn to use a gun.

"I can shoot too, you know," he said, "I could teach you."

"I know, I just figured you have more important stuff to do, you waste enough time teaching me to hunt."

Daryl shrugged, “I like teaching you,” he said, then he mumbled something Beth couldn’t quite make out.

"What?" Beth asked, the smile had returned to her face.

"I like teaching you," Daryl repeated.

"No, the second part," Beth asked.

"Don’t like seeing someone else with their arms around you," he said, his face slowly turning the colour of a tomato.

"Daryl Rick was just teaching me to shoot," she said, "were you jealous."

He shrugged and grunted again.

She laughed, but it was a laugh completely void of malice. “I’ll let Rick know you’re taking over the shooting lessons,” Beth said, leaning up and leaving a quick peck on his lips, “and you should know you don’t need an excuse like teaching me to shoot to put your arms around me anymore.”


End file.
